No Place Like Oz, by Danielle Paige

No Place Like Oz (Dorothy Must Die #0.5), by Danielle Paige

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Retellings

Rating: 5/5 stars










Goodreads Summary: In this digital original novella, Dorothy travels back to Oz to reunite with old friends, but her story may not have a happy ending. No Place Like Oz is a prequel to the forthcoming novel Dorothy Must Die.

After returning to Kansas, Dorothy Gale has realized that the dreary fields of Kansas don’t compare to the vibrant landscapes of Oz. And although she’s happy to be reunited with Aunt Em, she misses her friends from the yellow brick road. But most of all, Dorothy misses the fame and the adventure. In Kansas she’s just another prairie girl, but in Oz she was a hero. So Dorothy is willing to do anything to get back, because there really is no place like Oz. But returning to the land she left comes at a price, and after Dorothy is through with it, Oz will never be the same.

Perfect for fans of Alex Flinn, Marissa Meyer, and Gregory Maguire, No Place Like Oz is a dark reimagining of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Building off of its rich mythology, Danielle Paige creates an edgy, thrilling story for teens that chronicles the rise and fall of one of the literature’s most beloved characters. This digital original novella is a prequel that sets the stage for the forthcoming novel Dorothy Must Die.

Review:

  Okay. This 200-paged prequel is absolutely genius. It was SO GOOD. Like beyond words for good. 

  I chose to read this because I just cannot wait for Dorothy Must Die, and what's better than beginning with a prequel to start you onto the story? Let me tell you, nothing is better than that.

  I've always loved the story of The Wizard of Oz. There is such an amazing story behind the story (bear with me, this will make sense) and I got everything I asked for. By the end of the prequel, (I keep wanting to say novel,) all of my questions about the mysterious Dorothy Gale were answered, and I instantly realized what type of person she came to be.

   These days, I find that retellings end up so bad. But this one absolutely was amazing. Danielle Paige received such a smart idea to her head. We all know Dorothy Gale as an innocent, quiet country girl, but this story goes the whole other way, and what happened after the main story.

   So this book focuses on the main story, which is great. We don't have to plot a whole new beginning into our minds, and we don't have to start over fresh with a whole new protagonist. If you have the main idea of who Dorothy Gale is and what previously has happened to her, then you got the right idea and this series will be for you.

   So Dorothy went totally crazy in this prequel, but not in a bad way. Everything was much more detailed, and we saw her true personality. 

   Is it just me, or was Glenda the real villain in this book? Everything basically happened because of her, and in the end, when she did that whole motherly-love act,  I JUST REALIZED THAT IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF HER. I felt as if I got hit with a bunch of bricks in the head.

     Magic really is stupid. I just realized that in this book. It just changed Dorothy completely, and it made me hate her so much. She acted LIKE SHE WAS TAKING OVER THE PLACE AND SHE WAS RULING ALL OF OZ. This cannot be. >:( Okay, I lied. Maybe I still have one question. What next? Does magic still overtake Dorothy and make her a bitch? Well, this was a prequel, so I guess we'll find out in the real deal, but seriously, I treated this like a full-length book, and I was absolutely stunned by its amazingness. Dorothy, seriously, must die. *slams keyboard*